Please help! Temps all over the place

[ron505]

Great forum.  I have only lurked and searched so far, but now I need some assistance.

So I am on my second MES30, I got this one for a price I couldn't pass up.  It worked fine for a few months, then when I tried to smoke a 9lb pork butt earlier this summer, it took 21 hours (at 225 and couldn't keep smoke rolling).  It still wasn't fall apart and didn't have a very strong smoke taste to it.  The internal temp read 203 with the meat probe, and a Gdealer digital thermometer (which tells me the meat probe it fairly accurate).  I've tried chicken quarters, they took forever and still weren't fall apart.  Tried 3-2-1 ribs....nope.

So I cleaned the heck out of the inside of the whole smoker (including temp sensor and meat probe) to almost new condition.  I tried some wings recently, and true to previously smoking it was working.  They took about 1 hour, then on the grill for 5 minutes.  Which is how I've done them in the past when everything is in good working order. 

I am now trying for ribs again, and my question is, shouldn't the meat probe (not in meat) be close to the temperature reading of the smoker?  I need these ribs done by 7pm today.  I set the smoker at 225, and quickly said it was at 230, so very little smoke rolling.  Does it being warm outside have anything to do with it not needing to heat up much to keep temperature?  Or should I crank it up until the meat probe is reading around 220, and continue the 3-2-1?

Any helpful info would be greatly appreciated.  

 

[old sarge]

Not sure what is wrong.  Intermittent satisfactory operation can be very frustrating. Here is a link to testing the element.  I would also look for broken of cooked wires.  http://www.appliance411.com/faq/test-element.shtml

Good luck!

 

[redoctobyr]

Sorry, can you clarify the exact issue? If I'm reading correctly, when you actually measured/confirmed the smoker's temperature, it was 230, vs 225?

Or when you said the "internal temp" was 203, did you mean the temp inside the smoker was 203? I assumed you were referring to the meat's internal temp being 203.

If it was me, I'd run it for a while with any available measuring devices reading right next to the smoker's temperature sensor in the wall. If the smoker says it's at 225F, and everything else says 180F, then you definitely have a problem. But if everything else says 220-230F, for instance, then it sounds like it's working properly.

Then you'd still have to figure out why cooking is taking a long time, of course. But I'd want to start with a clear understanding of measured air temps vs setpoint, then go from there.

Putting the question differently: have you measured the air temp near the smoker's sensor being significantly different than setpoint? Preferably with no food nearby, since that can throw off some readings (the food cools the nearby air).